About reading

“Two Lives”, by Helen Naylor, is a love story ; the story of a love that seems able to last a lifetime and survive all sorts of hardships on the way. Everything and everyone, both circumstances and people seem determined to separate Megan and Huw but sometimes not even fifty years and thousands of miles can put enough distance between two souls that are meant for each other and have been aware of this undeniable truth since early childhood.

After fifty long years, life gives these two people a second chance but you have to read the book if you want to know whether or not they are brave enough to take the risk and start their relationship where they left it so long ago.

The story starts in Tredonald, Wales, in 1945. Those were hard times, specially in a village where the only options were working in the coal mine or leaving home to become a soldier or an immigrant in a foreign country.

I think this book is well worth reading because it  is not the usual romance, but two people’s journey through time and distance, both moving and believable, which holds the reader’s attention from the beginning to the very end.

 We would like you to share your impressions about this book with all of us, that’s why we have selected the following set of questions. You should choose a question from each group and send your writing to your teacher for correction.

GROUP 1

1. Describe Megan’s father. What was he like? What do you think he looked like? Why did he have so much influence on his daughter’s life?

2. Describe Huw’s father. What was he like? What do you think he looked like? Why did he have so much influence on his son’s life?

3. What kind of woman was Megan? Describe her physical appearance and her personality.

4. What kind of man was Huw? Describe his physical appearance and his personality.

 GROUP 2

1. Describe Huw’s family and his relationship with his father and brother, what they did for a living there in Wales in the 40s, etc. Explain why Huw decided to go to Canada and leave Megan in Britain.

2. What was Huw’s life in Canada like? Did he do well there? Was he successful? Did he have a happy life without Megan?

3. What was Megan’s life like all those years without Huw? Was it sad and empty or was it full and satisfying?

4. Talk about Huw and Megan’s relationship. Their love lasted a lifetime, but do you think it could be the same after fifty years? Is love the same at sixty than at sixteen?

GROUP 3

1. Write a letter from Megan to Paul explaining why she has decided to marry Huw.

2. Finish writing the letter from Huw which Megan begins reading on page 26 of “Two Lives”.

   My lovely Megan

I still haven’t received a letter from you. I can’t believe it takes four months for letters to cross the   Atlantic. What’s happened? Is something wrong?…

Some students of 2º  Nivel  Básico have just read some books that you may like to read.  

Here are some comments and reviews on some of them. They will help you choose the book that matches your tastes and suits you best.If you have read something recently, we would like to know your opinion.

All contribututions will be welcome

People who know me well say I’m a pessimist, very realistic and don’t have any sense of humour. With such a description you must suppose science fiction books, tales for children and magic stories are not my cup of tea. In fact I had a go at The Lord of the Rings twice but I gave up after the first twenty pages, I didn’t see the films either.

However, I’ve read all the Harry Potter stories, written by J.K. Rowling  , except the first one. I started with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets just because it was compulsory reading for a group of students I was teaching at the moment. I didn’t like it much and must admit that when one of my students said he refused to read such a story because it was a book for children I didn’t know what to answer, what the hell, HE WAS RIGHT. I read the second book: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, for the same reason I had read the other one.  Before starting I thought: ‘what a bore, the same story again’ but , surprisingly, I really liked the story and I started to sympathyse with some of the characters and hate others. Perhaps one of them cast a spell on me because just as the story came to an end I found myself reading the third book: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, excellent, for me it is the best of all the novels. Then came the others, a bit dissappointing, perhaps because the two previous books had been exceptionally good from my point of view. But I wanted to know the end of the story.

What I don’t like is the end of the saga, I don’t want to spoil it for you but I think that Ms Rowling leaves a door open in case one day she wants to go on writing about it and I think the end is perfect as it is now.

Of course there are some characters that I like and others that I hate, my favourite are Ron Weasly because he’s a bit of a disaster and Snape because he remains a mystery almost until the end: is he a goody or a baddy?

Anyway, I strongly reccommend the books. Nothing to do with my beloved P.D. James, but that’s another story and it’ll be told another time.

Visit this amusing site.

Title: The Boys from Brazil

Author: Ira Levin

Genre: Thriller

Level: Pre-Intermediate

It is 1974, a group of men meet in a restaurant in Brazil. One of them is Dr. Joseph Mengele. They have a terrible plan. In the next two and half years 94 men about 65 years old must die in different countries.

That same day in Viena, Yakov Lieberman, a Jew whose mission is to capture Nazis, receives a phone call in which someone tells him about Mengele’s plan, but the conversation is suddenly interrupted and he can’t get more information.

Whithout knowing who these men are or what connection they have with the Nazis, Lieberman starts to look for information. That’s the beginning of this exciting fiction novel.

This book is quite easy to read. It’s a gripping thiller with no jumps in time until the mystery is revealed in the end. It doesn’t take too long to read it and it will give you a good chance to think about ethics, science and the future. The story was made into a film in 1978. I think it’s well worth reading.